Rob Lang's Blog

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Notes From Courthouse East....The Suburban, Jurors & Race

It will probably be the most photographed vehicle in Baltimore for the next few weeks. The black SUV that is one of three vehicles used by Mayor Sheila Dixon. It pulls up in front of Courthouse East every morning. The mayor comes out and walks through the gauntlet of cameras and enters the courthouse.

When proceedings end for the day, the mayor enters her vehicle through the courthouse garage. Her driver pulls out. We take a picture of the vehicle and the mayor has left for the day.

Other notes from the trial:

During trials, jurors' names are not released. Usually the courthouse staff just releases the age, race, and occupation of the juror. We report this information so you can decide if the defendant is being tried by a jury of their peers.

Because of the amount of publicity the Dixon case has received, this court is not releasing this information, so we are left to judge this information for ourselves.

That brings me to Juror Number 3. This juror is a woman, but you can't tell from her appearance if she is black, white, or some other race. My own initial impression is that this woman considers herself black, since her skin is a light brown color. There are other observers who consider this person white. To avoid any confusion, I'm reporting that this person is of mixed race. The bottom line is the majority of the jury is black, and women make up three-quarters of the jury.

Finally, two memorable quotes from Tuesday's jury selection.

"Thank you Jesus," was the response one potential juror shouted in open court when the judge told her she was part of 20 that would be dismissed. The woman had been sitting in the courtroom for nearly three hours, before she and the rest of her group was sent home.

"Sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed plane is just like jury selection." Judge Dennis Sweeney said that to the jurors, when he thanked them for waiting for the last few days.